Italian Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida) won stage five of the 2015 Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey yesterday. Modolo took the sprint win - his first of the 2015 season - from a reduced bunch after a draggy uphill finish to the line in Pamukkale. Spainiard Carlos Barbero (Caja Rural) placed second, with Australian Jay McCarthy (Tinkoff-Saxo) in third. The winner of stages one and two, Mark Cavendish (Etixx-QuickStep) dropped out of the lead group in the final 500 meters, and did not contest the sprint finale. Davide Rebellin (CCC Sprandi) placed ninth on the stage to slightly extend his overall lead over second-placed Kristijan Durasek (Lampre-Merida). An escape group got away as soon as the race started in Muğla, consisting of Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal), Alessandro Bazzana (UnitedHealthcare) and Frederick Veuchelen (Wanty Groupe Gobert). The trio's gap grew to over seven minutes, but then started to dwindle over the day's minor categorized climbs and they were caught with 50 kilometers to go. A nine-man group then went away, but their time out front was short-lived thanks to some pace-setting in the peloton by Etixx-QuickStep, with the race all together again with 35 kilometers to go. As the road started to rise to the line several riders launched attacks to try and catch the sprinters out, and the frantic chase meant that Etixx soon ran out of men to lead out Cavendish. Modolo measured his sprint effort perfectly to pip his rivals on the line. One person not present to contest the finish was stage four winner Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal), who withdrew from the race before the stage start to commence his Giro d'Italia preparations.
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